


your face multiplied in glass

by basketofnovas (slashmarks)



Category: Juniper Gentian and Rosemary - Pamela Dean
Genre: F/F, Post-Canon, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21825658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashmarks/pseuds/basketofnovas
Summary: Immediately after canon, Becky picks up that phone call.
Relationships: Gentian Meriweather/Becky (Juniper Gentian and Rosemary)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 16
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	your face multiplied in glass

**Author's Note:**

  * For [resistate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/resistate/gifts).



> I was really excited to be assigned this fandom, and I hope you enjoy it! Title is, of course, from Becky's poem at the end of the book.

_She gathered the telephone into her lap, and still looking steadfastly at the double star, she dialed Becky's number._

The telephone rang for a long time, and Gentian had to look between Albireo in the telescope and the poem in her hand to calm herself. She couldn't read it, it was too dark, but she knew what it said. Becky hadn't told her to go to hell, after three quarters of a year. She had written that poem, so Gentian had at least one friend left, probably. 

She wished she had thought to check the date on the postmark. It would have made a large difference to know if Becky had written her most recently last week or in July.

"Hello?" Becky said. Her voice sounded different, Gentian thought. She knew it was Becky, but she sounded tired, and a little distracted, and like a stranger. My friends are all three quarters of a year older, Gentian thought, and was somehow surprised by it.

"Becky?" she said.

"Gentian!" Now Becky sounded like she might cry. 

"Becky," Gentian said, and wanted to laugh. "Now you say my name again. I read your poem. The last one, I don't know if there were any others. I liked it. I'm sorry, Becky, I don't know where I should start explaining."

"Did they take you to that therapist?" Becky said. 

"No. It turns out my father's a magician. A failed magician. Look, maybe you'd better come over. Are there - are the Ants there? Is the party over?"

"There wasn't a party," Becky said.

"It is Halloween, though." Gentian felt a sudden terror that it had happened again, even though Dominic was gone. She had woken up once enough to call Becky; what if it was now Christmas again, or spring?

"We didn't want to have it without you," Becky said. "We thought there was something really wrong when you didn't come back to school, and no one saw you all summer. Where have you been?"

"Right here," Gentian said. "Only not at all - look, maybe you'd better come over." She could see Becky didn't believe her about the magic. Well, alright, she wouldn't have believed her. Her father could back her up. "I think it will be easier that way."

"Maybe I'd better," Becky said. "I need to ask, hang on," she said and put the phone down.

Well, Becky was angry, but not so angry as Maria Mitchell, Gentian thought, and started to put the telescope away. She felt strange and dizzy. Something was welling up and she didn't know if it was laughter or tears. 

Becky got back on the phone after a minute and told Gentian she was coming but she couldn't stay that long. Gentian put the lights back on in her room and read the poem again. It was reassuring even if it made her feel sick to her stomach. Becky had been thinking of her all that time and Gentian had only been thinking about Dominic--

Well, that wasn't true. Gentian had thought about Becky more than anybody else. She had called her in April, and she had refused Dominic the poem. That was something to tell Becky; only would she believe it? If not it would seem the most self-serving sort of lie.

Gentian went back down to tell her parents Becky was coming. The way they were looking at her told her that they were still too relieved she had come back downstairs; it made her feel worse. 

Well, they could have come up and interfered eventually and they hadn't. Gentian found she was still angry with them. Evidently the apology had not been enough. She might be angry for some time, but she couldn't think what she could ask them to do - apologize again? - so she would probably have to leave it.

Becky got there before things became too awkward with Gentian and her parents. She was wearing a bright purple skirt Gentian didn't recognize with a yellow sweater. Same Becky, Gentian thought, and hugged her without thinking twice.

Becky's arms around her were so tight they almost hurt, and Becky made a little noise that was almost like a laugh until Gentian realized it was a stifled sob. "You're back," she said.

"I'm back," Gentian said. She heard her dad make a little coughing noise, and she said, "Dad, she's not going to believe me," quite forgetting how angry she'd been a few minutes ago.

"It's a possibility," her father said, and when Gentian let go of Becky to glare, "Alright, come sit in the kitchen."

"Cinnamon toast?" Gentian said half-hopefully. 

"You were happy enough to be independent an hour ago."

"It can be part of your apology," Gentian said. "And I'll--" She didn't have any idea what he was doing right now.

"You can help me with the new stray," her father said, and led the way into the kitchen.

Gentian looked at Becky, and Becky looked back. She could see that neither of them had any idea where to pick up. Quite suddenly Gentian realized the poem was still in her hand, and she looked at it for something else to look at. 

"Dominic wanted your poem," she said after a moment. "Not this one, I mean, not any specific one. He said he needed one to calibrate the time machine." Had she told Becky about that? She couldn't remember, but Becky wasn't asking, so probably she had. "I said he couldn't, that was what started us fighting, and--" She paused, then said, "Dominic kissing me and setting off Dad's spell."

"A spell," Becky said, and looked at her father. 

"They called it Prophylactic Nomenclature in my classes," he said again. "And if you're looking for a demonstration I'm afraid I can't give you one."

"Because it's not allowed."

"Because I am a _failed_ magician," he said. "Mrs. Zimmerman helped me with the girls' names - that's what Gentian's talking about. You'll have to ask her if you want more proof than Gentian vanishing for ten months."

Becky seemed to think about that, then said, "It's not the sort of thing she would do. We thought she was sick or had a breakdown or something at school."

"I'm sorry," her father said. He did it much more readily to Becky than to Gentian herself, she thought, and considered getting angry again. "We weren't sure what the best thing to do was, to be honest; but we didn't think about the effect on her friends so much as on Gentian herself."

"You should have," Becky said, and took the first piece of toast. "But I forgive you, I suppose, if Gentian does."

"I'm not sure I have," Gentian said. "--Oh, no, am I going to graduate? I'm going to have to go to meetings about my classes, aren't I."

"Probably," her mother said drily from the doorway. "Hello, Becky, it's nice to see you again."

"I'm glad to be here," Becky said. "Although I think I'm going to be angry with you for letting Gentian be taken away from me for a while, if that's alright. When did she come back from her time traveling?"

"Only a couple of hours ago," Gentian said.

"I notice the house is gone."

"He disappeared in a flash of light," Gentian said. "The house crumpled up then too. I'm sorry I dropped out of the play and scared everyone." She wanted to ask what everyone else thought, if they were angry with her, but she couldn't quite face it yet. One thing at a time, she decided.

"Oh, so you do remember that phone call," Becky said.

"I called her to ask how time worked in April," Gentian said. "I thought it was still Christmas break and she told me it wasn't, she made me promise to look at the sky, only I forgot. Dominic convinced me I had to finish the time machine with him so that I could reverse having lost all that time and stop everyone--" Gentian swallowed. "Stop you from worrying and being angry."

"It wouldn't have undone it," Becky said furiously to this. "Not going back and making us forget."

"I know," Gentian said, and because there wasn't much else she could say, "I'm sorry."

Her parents were looking at each other again, and Gentian was tired of it. "Let's go upstairs," she said to Becky. "I need to put my room back together. Thank you for the toast, let me know what you want me to do with the stray," she said, and marched straight up to the attic.

Becky looked around at her room, at the dusty piles of laundry, and the piles of her letters, and carefully cleared a space to sit on the bed while Gentian began packing away clean clothing. "I still don't know what to think," she said.

"Your poem brought me out of it," Gentian said. "Or, well, not wanting him to pry. I was afraid - he made it sound like whatever he used might stop existing and I couldn't do that to you."

"Well, that's something," Becky said, and sighed. "What are we going to tell the others?"

"I don't know. That I had a breakdown, maybe. I suppose I did."

"I suppose you did, but it still seems like lying. And it's important, you know, that Dominic made you have it. You didn't go and have it of your own volition."

"It wouldn't be my fault if I'd had a regular mental breakdown," Gentian said, then, "Oh, no. I lost my bet with Erin about Dominic, I can't lie about that."

"Then we'll start with her," Becky said, and laughed shakily. "Gentian. He made you kiss him?"

"No," Gentian said. "Or not exactly - we were arguing and he thought it would distract me. It nearly did, except then Dad's spell started working, it made him sick. The kiss itself wasn't so bad. It was the only thing he did that _wasn't_ bad."

"So you wouldn't be - upset, then, or reminded, if I wanted to kiss you," Becky said. Then hastily, while Gentian was still trying to work out what to say, "Maybe this is a bad time."

"Maybe," Gentian said. "I didn't know disappearing for ten months was how to make people want to kiss you."

"I'm not people," Becky said.

"What about Micky?"

"We broke up ages ago when I was distracted worrying about you. Gentian," and she sounded like a parent, disapproving, "My best friend dropped off the face of the earth, how could you think I'd be worried about dating Micky?"

"I assumed you'd be doing _something_ ," Gentian said. "Uh, it's alright, if you want to kiss me, that is. I don't know how I feel about it, but I don't think I will until you try."

Then Becky was kissing her. It wasn't at all like Dominic, Gentian thought. Dominic had obviously had a lot of practice. (Well, the Devil would. Assuming her father wasn't making that part up. Assuming the Devil meant anything without what he had called the overall system.) Becky had not, although this probably wasn't the first time.

Funny, earlier today - assuming that it had been today, and the whole argument hadn't taken a couple of weeks on its own - she had been thinking she might not kiss anyone ever again, and here she was.

"Well?" Becky said, almost shyly after a moment.

"I think I liked it," Gentian said, thoughtfully. "You're not feeling sick, are you? No harmful intentions, I suppose."

"Oh, is that how it works?" Becky said unhappily.

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me. He said I was too young." They regarded each other in dismay at this idea. "I guess the traditional age is eighteen and he went to college for it before transferring to Blackstock."

"Will you be going to college for magicians, then?"

"Depends on where it is, doesn't it? It might be somewhere with awful skies for stargazing," Gentian said, and was a little taken aback when she realized Becky was crying. "Becky--"

"I'm alright. You're you, that's all," Becky said, giggling a little too, and then she was kissing Gentian again. It was nowhere near as careful as the last one, all mashed up lips and awkwardly placed noses. She pulled out of it almost immediately. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought this up now."

"It's alright, I made such a mess with the last boy it's probably a good thing you intercepted me before I found another one," Gentian said. 

"Another boy or another mess?" Becky asked pedantically, and Gentian realized she was grinning. Funny, how she was starting to feel like she had been away from Becky for months even without remembering the time.

"I meant another boy, but probably both," she said. "When did you realize..."

"It was when I was writing the poem you're holding, actually," Becky said, smiling a little weakly. There were tears in her eyes. "When I was trying to say something about friendship. I think I told you about wanting to kiss you in the poem, really, because I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to do it in person. That's why I couldn't stop myself today."

"You mean," Gentian looked down, "Because you said we imagine lovers facing each other and friends side by side - and us back to back but facing each other in the mirror?" Becky was nodding. Gentian thought she could have drowned in that image - staring into Becky's face in the mirror and Becky into hers - for hours, but she had lost so much time already. She didn't want to lose more, even for her best friend. "Becky, where do I start now that I'm back? What do I _do_?"

"Giant Ants, then school, because it's after work hours," Becky said practically. "You said you had a bet with Erin about Dominic, so call her next."

"She'll probably be better than Steph and Alma," Gentian agreed and started to dial. Then she stopped. "Do we tell them about us, too?"

"If you like," Becky said. "I imagine they'll notice, so we might as well."

"True," Gentian said, finishing Erin's number. 

Erin was on the phone almost immediately, nothing like Becky. Gentian swallowed and took Becky's hand. "Erin," she said. "I'm sorry. I think I owe you three patterns from the Folkways catalog."


End file.
